M4
Series Medium Tanks

M4A3
Shermans of the 781st Tank Battalion line up on the main street in Lemberg
in December, 1945. The lead tank mounts the 76mm "high velocity"
main gun, while the remaining tanks mount the original 75mm pieces. (SOC)

The workhorse of the 781st—and of
all US Army medium tank battalions in WWII after 1942—was the M4 Sherman
tank. Four variants served in combat with the 781st in Europe. Shermans
equipped with the 75mm main gun were at a serious disadvantage, as by 1944,
this weapon lacked the lethality and accuracy necessary to duel with most German
tanks at typical engagement ranges. All US armored vehicles were vulnerable
to attack by German Panzerfaust (“Armored Fist”) or Panzerschreck
(“Tank Terror”) rocket launchers. The former was the forerunner of the
modern Soviet RPG series of antitank rocket launchers, and was an
inexpensive, mass manufactured weapon with a short range (50 yards or
less), but with an enormously powerful rocket-propelled chemical warhead
capable of penetrating the armor of any Sherman with its jet of
hyper-heated gas and high explosive. The latter resembled an American
bazooka, but was manufactured in a much larger caliber (88mm vs. 60mm, or
2.36 inches), making it a much more formidable weapon.

M4A3
with 76mm gun and sandbags for protection against German antitank
rockets. (SOC)

To nullify the effects of these
ubiquitous and deadly weapons, crews of the 781st often decked their tanks
with sandbags. Although the weight slowed down the vehicles, the sandbags
detonated the Germans’ rocket warheads and dissipated their chemical energy
before the armor could be penetrated.

Some units of the 781st possessed
the M4A3 with a 3-inch, or 76mm main gun. This much more powerful weapon
was more than a match for the most common German tank at this stage of the
war, the Panzer IV, or the most common assault guns faced by the 100th Infantry
Division, the Hetzer and Sturmgeschütz III or IV, all
of which were equipped with a 75mm gun of slightly inferior performance.
Otherwise, this variant provided the same reliable service and moderate
armor protection as those M4A3s equipped with 75mm guns.

781st
M4A3E8 leads the way through the Camp de Bitche, March 1945. (NA)

781st
Shermans equipped with 76mm guns were more than a match for German
armored vehicles equipped with the medium caliber-length 75mm gun, such
as this Panzerjäger 38 Hetzer
("Harrier") tank destroyer/assault gun. (NA)

Another variant of the Sherman
serving with the 781st was the M4A3E8, or “Easy Eight.” This version also
carried the 3-inch, or 76mm gun, which fired its 15.4 pound armor piercing
projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,600 feet per second (or almost 27%
faster than the 75mm gun M3 equipping many of the M4A3s in the battalion!).
When equipped with this weapon, Shermans were more than a match for the
German Panzer IV or any other German armored vehicle equipped with the
standard German caliber-length 46 or 48 main gun. (such as the Hetzer
tank destroyers employed by the 17th SS-Panzer Grenadier Division
around Rimling, or Sturmgeschütz III or IV assault guns
employed by elements of German XC Corps around Lemberg during
Operation NORDWIND.) Even with this 76mm main gun, however, crews of the
781st who were fortunate enough to be so equipped were outgunned by the
21st Panzer Division’s Panther tanks supporting the 17th SS at
Rimling, which mounted a 75mm gun with a much higher muzzle velocity (3,066
feet per second). They were grotesquely outgunned by the behemoth 128mm
guns mounted on the “Hunting Tiger”(Jagdtiger) tank destroyers from
the German 653rd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, some of which were
also attached to the 17th SS during Operation NORDWIND. Aside from
its improved main gun, the only other significant difference of this
variant of the Sherman is reduced ammo storage; due to the larger bulk of
the 76mm projectile, it could only carry 71 rounds.

Captain
Jack Rothschild examines a German Panzerjäger VI Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger") knocked
out near Rimling. Note the massive, 250mm frontal turret armor evident in
this photo; no Sherman of any type could penetrate this protection at
typical combat ranges. (NA)

The Headquarters Company’s Assault
Gun Platoon possessed Shermans armed with 105mm howitzers, as did the
Headquarters Platoons of each medium tank company. While this main gun had
very limited usefulness as an antiarmor weapon, it was extremely useful
both in the indirect fire mode, and in direct fire against field
fortifications or buildings. Otherwise, its performance was very similar to
a standard Sherman. Sometimes, all six assault guns were brigaded together
to form a provisional battery. During NORDWIND, the 781st created
such an organization, under the command of Lieutenant Yonkers. Designated “Battery
Y,” it included all of the indirect fire assets in the battalion, including
the battalion 81mm mortar platoon and all of the battalion’s 105mm-equipped
Shermans.

M4A3
Assault Gun with 105mm howitzer. Photo taken at Fort Hood, Texas, by Jim
Weller. (Photo appears by gracious permission of Mr. Weller. Viewers may
examine many of his other fine photos of WWII armored vehicles at http://people.delphi.com/jtweller/tanks/tanks.htm)

In the spring of 1945, as the 781st
supported the 100th Infantry Division’s drive into Germany during Operation
UNDERTONE, Headquarters Company M4A3 tanks were equipped with the US Army’s
answer to the dreaded German Nebelwerfer rocket launchers. These two
vehicles were rigged with 4.5-inch rocket launchers, each capable of “ripple
firing” up to 60 rockets in a single barrage lasting only 30 seconds. These
vehicles provided much-needed fire support to elements of the 397th and
398th Infantry Regiments during their assault crossing of the Neckar River
at Heilbronn in April 1945.